In this day and age, advertisements have been taken to a whole new level. In order for companies to properly get their name out there in the vast world of social media, it takes more than just a few photos uploaded onto Instagram or Facebook. It can take a while to navigate through all of the social media websites and figure out which ones are best suited for your company’s needs. The following is a list of amazing tools that I feel you should try if you own a business and want to expand your reach on social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Youtube.

Hootsuite

Overview: This tool allows you to update all of your social networks at once without having to log in to each site individually. This is excellent for corporate companies that have a larger social media presence, as the process of uploading and scheduling posts can be quite time-consuming.

Presentation Zen

Overview: An excellent tool to use when planning large social media posts such as webinars, infographics, and slide presentations. It breaks down what works best in order to appeal to viewers and to create a professional look and feel for marketing purposes.

IFTTT

Overview: This site is quite popular among many social media users and is used frequently by companies of all sizes. IFTTT stands for “If This Then That.” It basically means that if one thing happens on one platform, it will trigger something else to happen on another platform. For example, if you post an update on Facebook, it can automatically tweet the same update at the same time. If your company has multiple accounts on different sites, IFTTT can be used in order to have everything updated virtually simultaneously.

Bitly

Overview: An excellent tool for shortening links to be posted within social media updates/tweets, as following a link that is too long can get annoying. Bit.ly will allow you to track how many clicks your links are getting so that you know what is or isn’t working when it comes to the way your posts are being spread online.

Htmlbin

Overview: This site allows marketers to create their own tools that they can use in order to tailor every aspect of their company’s social media pages. These tools come in handy when having large amounts of products or services available and needing them all easily accessed on one page, without cluttering up the overall look of the page.

Buffer

Overview: This site allows you to schedule posts on pretty much every social media platform available, not just one or two. It is an easy tool to use and can save you a lot of time in the long run when trying to create large marketing campaigns that are effective across all social media platforms.

Tweetdeck

Overview: A versatile tool with a nice balance between ease of use and functionality for most social media users. It has an easy drag-and-drop feature, allowing users to drag updates they make on Twitter or Facebook over to other supported sites such as Pinterest and Google+ without having to go through the entire process of editing posts all over again.

Tweriod

Overview: An incredibly useful tool for finding out when your followers are online so that you can schedule posts to be made at the best times. It will give you great insight into when your social media community tends to be most active, allowing for increased exposure and interaction.

SocialOomph

Overview: Another tool that is very similar to Hootsuite, this site allows users to do everything from scheduling updates on various sites all the way to finding new follows and unfollowing those who don’t reciprocate your interest in them.

Izea

Overview: A tool that can help companies create effective marketing campaigns by allowing them access to an influential network of people with large social media followings, such as bloggers and celebrities. The ability to tap into these networks can be a huge plus for your company, but you need to be very careful when it comes to how you interact with this community.

Manageflitter

Overview: This is a great tool for anyone who has to manage multiple social media accounts at once because it allows users to search through all their follows in order to find out who isn’t active anymore or who may not be relevant in your current market. It also allows users to follow others in bulk rather than one at a time.

Mention

Overview: A useful resource that can give marketers the ability to track tweets, posts, pictures, and other internet content containing certain keywords across various platforms. It will alert these users every time something they are looking for makes an appearance across sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

MeetEdgar

Overview: This tool allows you to schedule posts on all the various social media platforms out there, at any time of day no matter what your own personal schedule is like. It will become an invaluable resource for marketers who do not have a specific posting schedule all the time but want their information online when they can’t be available.

Soovle

Overview: This site can provide users with top trending information from all around the web rather than just one platform at a time. It pulls results from Twitter, Google+, YouTube, Bing and many more places in order to find out what everyone is looking up online.

There are numerous tools available for managing social media marketing efforts but it is important to choose ones that are relevant to your industry. For example, if you run a food truck business, knowing when your followers are most active will be an incredibly useful resource for scheduling posts – but it probably won’t be all that effective if you’re promoting the construction of luxury homes.